My Psalm 508 “Have Mercy, O Lord, Have Mercy” Afghanistan August 27, 2021
Almighty God, Father of all Creation,
Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Omnicient,
We call upon Your Name this day
Humbly bowing before Your throne,
Knowing You answer the prayers
Of Your people.
We are heartbroken this day
As terrorist attacks once more begin.
As we see scenes and hear cries
Of man’s inhumanity to man once more,
As we listen to leaders for whom we have prayed
Betray our trust and diminish our confidence,
We remember Your judgments in Old Testament times
When You condemned nations and peoples to destruction
And pray that does not include us this day.
We have defied Your will,
We have broken Your commandments,
We have killed our babies in Your safe wombs,
We have mistreated people and succumbed to prejudice.
We have denied Your Power and ignored Your precepts,
And our country is now in a dark place.
Are You teaching Your people to rise up against sin?
Are You waiting for people to stop playing church
And be the church?
Are You asking us to welcome millions of refugees,
Migrants, and freedom-seekers for around the world
When we are losing our trust in safety and security?
Are You visiting us with plagues, diseases, and threats
That fill our clinics, defy treatments, and kill our people?
Are You diminishing our food supply so that we fail to share?
Are You causing the fires to burn, the earthquakes to shake us,
The storms to ravage, and murder to flourish?
Lord, I beg for You to raise up leaders who follow Your Word,
Who understand our strength is not in weapons or armies,
Who call on Your Name rightly revealing Your truth and principles
And not merely misquoting scripture or removing Your Name
From our country’s memory by cultural cleansing
And claiming need for diversity.
We are to have no other gods before You.
Show our leaders the folly of their misjudgment,
Their ignorance, and their stubborn pride.
Bring to mind the Prince of Peace
Your Son, our Savior, Who taught Your attributes
Of love, patience, long-suffering, mercy, and grace,
Yet espouse justice and righteousness, and truth.
Bring us to our knees in worship, this day
As we pray for victims’ families, for safety for our troops,
For guidance as we house millions from other nations
Into our own. We so need Your mercy, this day.
May our churches, Your Church, take leadership
In showing kindness, empathy, and welcome
To those who come with nothing but hope
To our country.
May we find ourselves today
Totally dependent on Your mercy
And feel the grace of Your Presence
In our fallen world.
May we understand Your purpose,
Dress once more in sackcloth and spread ashes,
Mourning the losses
And praying for Your intervention
As we face yet another crisis.
May we not be just another fallen empire
On the pages of history, only to repeat national sin
And fade into the pages to be studied, analyzed,
And pitied for trusting in men and not You.
In Jesus’ precious Name. Amen.
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